


The Distance of Stars

by Gerbilfriend



Category: Earth Girl Trilogy - Janet Edwards
Genre: Actually the whole Military does, Canonical Character Death, Drago Tell Dramis has a new respect for archaeologists
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2019-11-05 17:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17922815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gerbilfriend/pseuds/Gerbilfriend
Summary: -is how far Jarra is from the rest of her family but that's okay, they can get closer. (Or drabbles on the Earth Girl series and the Tell clan in particular).





	1. General Torrek 1

The first time he meets his grandchild, his wife's honor child he doesn’t quite know what to say.

 

Luckily he has a script. 

 

She doesn’t want any contact with the family that abandoned her, that failed her. He understands that. Still, she does the ceremony with pride and he wants to tell her something, anything of the woman that Jarra was. 

 

The second time there is no script. 

 

He is still coming from space to earth, yes, but this time it is no tame portal ride. 

 

This time it's a spaceship crashing down to earth. 

 

He still doesn’t expect to meet her, doesn’t expect to see her until he asks to see the archaeologists that got hurt digging them out. 

 

And then he does. 

 

Her name glows on the side of her suit, as the medic looks over her. The smell of burning flesh and blood fills his nose. 

 

It’s only partly in his imagination. 

 

He hasn’t wanted to vomit like this in twenty one years. Luckily he knows just how to distract himself. 

 

He looks at the boy she's twoing with, they seem happy. 

 

He wants to say more, to ask questions, to close the gap. 

 

He doesn’t know how. 

 

All too soon she is borne away on the stretcher again.

 

This Jarra at least will live. 

 

He can hold onto that. 


	2. Drago vs Zullu Archaeologists (0-1)

Drago blinked, he had finally gotten off Earth Rolling News and had been hoping to listen to the interesting music that the archaeologists had been playing.

 

However, the second he had gotten into the room it had shut off. 

 

Drago knew threatening looks and there were plenty in the room.

 

Quickly he ran through his interactions with the archaeologists in his head, trying to figure out what his faux pas was. 

 

He had asked to even asked to enter the dig site!

 

He raised his hands, trying to calm the situation down somehow, wishing a negotiator was here. It felt like the sort of situation they could help with. “What can I help you with”, he offered. 

 

As one they scowled at him.

 

He had definitely done something offensive.  _ Nuke it, I don’t want to be demoted now,  _ he couldn’t help but think as he watched the group shift.

 

It was the site leader, Pereth, who spoke. “What do you want with Jarra”.

 

“What do you mean?”. He hadn't expected a question like that.

 

Someone snorted in the background. “Isn’t it obvious”. He was pretty sure he heard mumbling about Exos too- whatever those were. 

 

“No”. Maybe his flirting had been more annoying than he predicted and Jarra had complained, he was just about to explain how they had worked that out and it was fine with Pereth spoke again.

 

“We might be handicapped but we are not stupid. We know you are part of the family that threw Jarra away”. Drago forced himself to stand straight even as it felt like he had been gutted. “You called her cousin. Is the Tell Clan going to break off contact as soon as she stops being useful”. He spat out that last word like a curse. 

 

“We wouldn’t do that”, Drago felt himself protest, trying to keep his anger leashed. Anger was easier than guilt.

 

“You already did”. 

 

Just like the thrusters cutting out on his dart ship Drago felt the anger die, all that was left in its place was ashes and the vast emptiness of space. 

 

There was nothing he could say to that.

 

“Just like all the other exos”. 

 

“What did you expect”, he hears another one say. The voice seems distant- all he can see if Jaxon’s broken face as he admits to the sister that they sent away. The one that they had broken faith with. 

 

He remembered his own sense of loss, the only thing that had stopped him from punching Jaxon had been that face.

 

Had been the fact that there was nothing that Drago could have done to make it worse.

 

“We didn’t mean too”. The voice sounded so very weak. It takes him a second to realize it is his own. 

 

“What is that supposed to mean”. 

 

Here Drago can be angry. “It means that both her parents were working military”, here he paused, remembering the family lost, “and that Hospital Earth does not respect Betan culture. Any of the non serving members would have gone”. 

 

“He really believes that”, another archaeologists added. Drago really needs to start learning their names- it's hard when they aren’t all labeled.

 

“It’s true”. He doesn’t have anything else to say. 

 

It looked as though there was a private debate as Drago stood there on the other side of the room. 

 

“Prove it. Or you might find us”, Pereth paused for a moment. A distant part of Drago admired the emotional tension he was building. The rest of him just wanted this over with. “Less than corporative. Tell me, do you know how much military technology uses archaeological finds?”. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Archeologists are a family. Just sayin~


	3. Dragon Tell Dramis 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Me is sad. Sorry (not)

It's his turn to make the call. Dragon feels the pressure of the bars on his shoulder, some how so much heavier.

 

He wants to grieve.

 

He has already told a father his son is dead, he died with his wife (it was the only comfort Dragon could think to offer). 

 

Already told a daughter her parents are dead. 

 

Already told a son his parents are dead.

 

But he has one more call to make. And this one hurts differently.

 

How does he tell a civilian who just met her parents that they were gone. How does he tell someone lost from her clan. 

 

Lost from her home.

 

They had been so close. 

 

Had it only been days ago Marack had called, tears in his eyes and announced that Jarra had finally called them Finally made contact. Said that she wanted to see them.

 

They had been so close. 

Riak had been so excited when he had almost babbled about her. About how she had a commendation for bravery and worked as an archaeologist. 

 

They had been so close. 

 

Drago had gotten special permission to visit Jaxon.

 

They had been so close.

 

And now he has to tell their lost daughter that the parents she never got to know are dead.


	4. Jaxon 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jarra actually turned 14 the year before, they don't know that though...

Three days after Jarra turned fourteen all four of them get together, quietly, hopefully.

 

That had worked for months to all get leave at the same time. 

 

Mom and Dad were glued to their look ups as Jaxon jockeyed with Gemelle for a place over their shoulders.

 

Normally they would have been told to stop.

 

Normally Gemelle and him would not have been acting so childishly.

 

But.

 

But.

 

This is the first chance they get to finally fix things. Jarra can contact them and he can tell her how sorry he is. 

 

How much of a skunk he is. How much of a skunk he had been.

 

They had broken fidelis. 

 

Today that could finally be fixed.

 

“Most Hospital Earth’s wards make contact as soon they turn fourteen”. 

 

They wait.

 

And wait.

 

Nothing.

 


	5. Marack 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And my inability to write anything but angst shows itself again. Whoops.

Gemena was pageing him.

It was flagged personal-important-urgent-family. That was a lot of flags. Normally she didn’t use nearly that many.

 

 The message was just come quickly, important news.

 

 Marack raced through the rest of his work, checked in with the scientists gartering samples of the flora- he made note of the possibly becoming toxic moss, that would need to be looked into later as the report said it was changing in composition with the season, something that might be the sign of an impending behavior event, and rushed back to his quarters.

 

The only reason he didn’t sprint was that he didn’t want to worry the people under their command.

 

This was personal. This was important Had something happened to Jaxon, flying on some confidential appointment? Or Gemelle? Or any of the Clan’s other kids? 

 

It was tagged family. 

 

_ Please don’t take anymore children away from me. _

 

It was only a few moments get down the hallway, to duck through their meeting room.

 

It was a few minutes too long. 

 

He didn’t even bother to take off his impact suit. He could deal with that later. 

 

Gemena’s eyes were red and puffy.

 

He felt his heart sink. 

 

“What happened?”.

 

She just  pointed at the screen of her look up. A video was rolling.

 

He didn’t know what was going on at first. It was just a dome with a bunch of badly saluting out of uniform cadets.

 

_ That's my father.   _

 

They weren’t cadets.

 

This was an honor ceremony. 

 

“Whose honor ceremony is this?”. He reached back, trying to figure out which of the Clan’s honor children were turning eighteen.

 

He couldn’t think of anyone. Jarra, if she requested information, was the closest but she would still only be seventeen.

 

But it couldn’t be her.

 

Gemena couldn’t say anything. She just let the video keep going. Watching Jarra accept the medals. 

 

She had her mother's hair, cut short, he could see that much from the vid bees angle. He found himself wishing he could just turn the camera more.

 

They had a photo of what she had looked like as a baby, all wrapped up in a Hospital Earth blanket.

 

He wanted to see how much she had changed, had grown.

 

It was.

 

His father was saying something to Jarra.

 

The vid bee had cut off.

 

Marack pushed down the petty jealousy that he couldn’t be there. He knew the only reason his father was there was because he had asked his father to hold the post because things were heating up.

 

For a moment he hated his job. This was the second time it had kept him away from his daughter.

 

They watched the video again. His wife's presence was comforting.

 

After the third time through he had to know.

 

“Has she contacted us?”.

 

“Nothing”.

 

That was a good way of putting it. It made all too much sense that Jarra would not want contact with the family that had betrayed her.

 

“She agreed to the honor ceremony, she hasn’t totally refused us”. Not like they had her.

 

“But are we allowed to contact her?”. The video was playing again. Did Jarra look like them? Her face was just so small, the shot focused on the medals in her hands. 

 

They sent off a quick question to their families legal team. If Jarra didn’t want contact they would understand.

 

It would still hurt. 

 

And this was a chance. The first chance in nearly eighteen years. 

 

The honor ceremony was on it's seventeenth loop when legal got back to them. 

 

There were other messages from family members, some of them people who didn’t even know that Jarra existed. 

 

All of them wanting news. Wanting to know who she was, how she was doing, was she in contact, could they have her presentation ceremony now? 

 

The last one hurt.

 

He would talk to them later.

 

He opened the legal message, pushing passed the legalise to the summary at the end. “The fact that Jarra asked for information meant that the military could contact her. As military we can contact her, however, we are advised to be cautious as there is little precedent for a case like this”. 

“I want to message her”. Gemena had already found her address. Military intelligence was useful sometimes.

 

The problem was figuring out what to say. 

 

Jarra hadn't contacted them. But she hadn't rejected them either. 

 

And Marack was so tired of waiting, of hurting. 

 

This was a chance to fix what they broke.   
  


He wasn't going to waste it.


	6. Caius 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So tried to be less sad. Ramona is an oc I added for fun. Hopefully this came across well.

It was a tradition for the Clan to sit together when one of their own was getting a medal at a ceremony like this.

 

Today they had two people getting awards. 

 

Well.

 

Technically Jarra wasn’t an official member of the clan. She might not even want contact with them- not after what they had done to her.

 

But she hadn’t renounced them yet. 

 

So there was still hope. 

 

And they were going to watch the ceremony, even if they weren’t there in person. 

 

That was what live link was for. As it was there were about fifty holo people (they didn’t know they were floating from the ceiling and he had sworn everyone here to secrecy, he needed to have his fun somehow).

 

He had even managed to get the kids to agree. He owed a few chocolate ice cream, yes, but it was totally worth it.

 

That wasn’t mentioning the people who had just linked into various family members look ups.

 

Ramona elbowed him. 

 

“What was that for”, he whispered to her, not wanting to disturb the rest of their family with their shenanigans. 

 

“I can feel you puff up”

 

“I deserve it, just because you went combat doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate how much I do. Without tech this place would fall apart”. Setting it up so that every not currently on duty member could see took work.

 

He could feel Ramona’s silent amusement. Just when she was about to snipe back the anthem started to play.

 

They both fell silent and watched the clips roll. As dramatic as the crash was Caius found himself drawn in by the archaeologists. 

 

Before Solar 5 he hadn’t much thought about them.  

 

But he wasn’t the only one who had found themselves on an Earth related research spree. 

 

And they were kind of awesome. He strained, trying to figure out which of the impact suited figures was Jarra.

 

The explosion was just as loud the second time as it had been the first. 

 

Even prepared he saw quite a few members of his family flinch. The screams had been edited out but there was still a visual of each of the six tag leaders on their gurneys. Civilians who protected the military.

 

Did they know how rare that was? They probably through his cousin was just being polite when he said leave them but really, they wouldn’t have been blamed.

 

Finally the video was over. 

 

The flags dipped and the awards started. Caius withheld a snicker at the expression on cousin Dragon’s face.

 

He wanted to be the general giving out awards. 

 

But had been vetoed.

 

And was now sulking. 

 

As much as a vaunted general could sulk. It was a good thing he was recording this. He would have that image for ever.

 

And he was keeping it. 

 

They cheered for cousin Riak, who they really did not get to see enough of anymore, sometimes it felt like they lost three family members instead of just two.  

 

And then they cheered for Jarra. She looked like she was trying to hold back a smile as she walked in.

 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw holo Jaxon, still upside down, brush his finger along her face.

 

The rest of the ceremony was good. The applause flowed easily for each group, different sections of the audience getting louder at different points. 

 

Then the flags dipped.

 

Even the children’s chatter died down as the family stood, holo’s righting themselves with a click. 

 

“The Artemis”.

 

Caius had known Uri, they had been through basic together and hung out at weddings. He had been fun to dance with. 

 

Ramona leaned against him as they watched Uri’s clips play. 

 

He hadn’t known Captain Marra Leonie Meyer, that didn’t mean they didn’t respect her.

 

He was just about to sit down when, “Davide Jenning of Earth. Tag leader Earth 1” was announced.

 

The man couldn’t seem to get up for a moment. Caius understood that level of shock.

 

The Artemis had never been awarded to civilians.  _ They deserve it.  _

 

“The tag leaders”, Ramona shouted as pandemonium broke out, “the ones who got injured. Jarra is getting the Artemis.

 

“She deserves it”. He wasn’t sure which clan member had said that. That didn’t mean it wasn’t true.  

 

They managed to get themselves under control in time to watch her walk up, the golden starburst pinned next to the Earth Star.

 

The second it was back on her shoulder pandemonium broke out once more. 

 

He glanced at Jarra’s siblings, trying to see how they were feeling

 

Jaxon was crying while cheering. Gemelle was leaning on her husband, face full of pride.

 

_ Go big or go home. Why not get the Artemis as your second medal. _

 

“We need to celebrate this”, Ramona said, voice full of glee. “She deserves a party. When can we bring her home”.

 

“I don’t think she’d like it if we just crashed on Earth”, Caius had to point out. 

 

Ramona huffed. “As soon as we can than”

 

“Agreed”.

 

As long as Jarra wanted to be, she was clan.

 

They just had to make sure she knew that.

  
  



	7. Drago 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't think this one is sad?

“Is it true”, Drago demanded as his great uncle’s face appeared on his look up, immediately breaking military formality, “is Jarra on base right now”. 

 

“Word does travel fast”. 

 

“Why is she here? I know Jarra’s an awesome archaeologist but she isn’t exactly one of the experts”. 

 

“Aside from the fact that apparently has more practical knowledge of earth’s history than the famous prehistory ‘experts’ we called in,'' he trailed off for a moment. Drago had the feeling he wouldn’t like the next few words from his great uncle’s mouth. “You remember the incident with the guard shift yesterday”.

 

If by incident than one of the officers on duty deciding to try and attack the alien sphere, than yes, Drago did remember. “But what does this have to do with calling Jarra in”. What did Jarra have that no one else did? Drago only had one answer. 

 

He wasn’t sure he liked it.  

 

Colonal Torrek took a breath, “we figured that the best way to check for any more problems was to lure them out”.

 

Drago felt cold. “And you are setting Jarra up as bait”. It made logical sense, if there were people biogted against their own species than there was no way they should be serving on something like this.

 

Still. Jarra was so young. And had already faced so much. “Is there anyone else we could use”. 

 

“She has the Artemis and would not be missed like the others”.

 

“But-”.

 

“There's no use protesting now, I have made the command decision to do this Major Dramis”.  

 

_ And it is tearing you apart.  _ Strangely, Drago found that he didn’t have all that much sympathy in this case.

He had seen some of the things people had said about the Handicaped, especially after Jaxon had told him about Jarra.

 

They had to put up with enough already.

 

And now they were asking Jarra to deal with more.

 

It wasn’t fair. 

“I’m going to watch her back”

 

“I hoped you would”.

 

Drago shut off the call.

 

He had a baby cousin to meet. 

  
  



	8. Caius 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Was sitting on this so decided to post it. Not really in timeline cause technically this would be first.

There was a roaring sound in his head as he watched the footage of Grandma Jarra’s honor ceremony. 

 

He watched it again.

 

They had broken fidelus. They had abandoned a child. Left her. He had always wondered about how clans could bare to send their children away. 

 

_ How did I miss this.  _

 

He hadn’t been that close to Jaxon, being just enough older than him that he was sometimes put in a position of authority.

 

He was a little closer to Gemelle, their mutual affection for technology meant that they ended up together working out their own pranks sometimes. 

 

He had noticed that Gemelle would get… cold about her brother sometimes. One august she had outright refused to talk to him.

 

When Caius had asked she had just said that Drago and Jaxon had broken her new look up.

 

That had sounded pretty on point so he had let it lie. By September they were back to being in the same room and around Years End things had gotten better.

 

_ How did I miss this. _

 

He needed to understand.

 

Thankfully Gemelle was on break. 

 

“You saw?”. She looked resigned. Caius wondered if anyone else had called her yet. She was the only one currently not on a Planet First. 

 

“Is she? She’s your younger sister, right? Granma Jarra’s honor child?”. He just had so many questions. 

 

“She is”. 

 

“Does she talk to you guys?”.

 

“She requested info but hasn’t contacted us. I think Mom and Dad are going to contact her as soon as things quiet down”. 

 

They were both silent. In the background the video ran again. “We really did abandon her”, Caius said numbly.

 

Confirmation made it worse somehow. 

 

“We broke fidelus”.

 

“We shattered it”, Gemelle scoffed brokenly. “I’m pretty sure ‘don’t send your newborn sister to be raised by outlanders because she has a faulty immune system’ is the first rule”.

 

How long had Gemelle been carrying this. How many of his family members had been silently bearing this for eighteen years?

 

How had he not noticed.

 

When would it be right?

  
  



End file.
